To Be Taught, If Fortunate

by Becky Chambers

I’m an observer, not a conqueror. I have no interest in changing other worlds to suit me. I choose the lighter touch: changing myself to suit them.

The amount a person can spare is relative; the value of generosity is not.

We should’ve known better, as students of the universe. There’s no escaping entropy.

The ache to return to a time long gone was almost worse than fear.

For all my impartiality, for all my trying to set aside anthropocentric biases and see the beauty in all forms, I truly didn’t care. I watched them burn, and felt a twisted gratitude. I have never stopped hating what that says about me.

home can only exist in a moment. Something both found and made. Always temporary, in the grand scheme of things, but vital all the same.